


Helping hand

by Hyfriancarousel



Series: Red shoes month 2020 [3]
Category: Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarfs (2019)
Genre: Acts of Kindness, Bonding, Confusion, Fear, Gen, Help, Post-Ending, Trauma, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25688662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyfriancarousel/pseuds/Hyfriancarousel
Summary: Prince Average gets fatherly help and advice.
Series: Red shoes month 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860025
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Helping hand

He couldn't think about it. The way he had felt, the way everything changed because of a bite.

A bite of an apple.

Average stared at the lake, at his reflection. He was almost back to his usual self. At least his clothes and hair had finally dried off.

Falling into a river was not fun.

The fairy princess’s tanning chair was right next to him, but he didn’t want to touch it. Who wanted to touch something that belonged to a witch? Not him.

He tried to ground himself, but his mind was racing. The sound of water quietly splashing the boundaries of the lake. The birdsong in the trees. The feel of grass and the warmth of the sun. None of it helped.

The past couple hours of his life were a blurry mess.

He hated uncertainty.

He could recite his monthly events without a calendar! He forgot nothing!

So why now?

He looked at his hand. The same hand he held the apple in. Still covered by his glove, thankfully. They were a part of his image, after all.

He clenched his hand into a fist.

The transformation didn’t hurt him, but it was terrifying. 

Not knowing what was happening. Feeling your body forcibly change to something different because of that strange smoke. Your skin, your arms grow bark and blisters.

Losing who you were, replaced only by anger and rage.

Forgetting who you were, WHAT you were.

How terrifying is that?

Someone pet his head,  
“There, there.”

Average flinched away from the touch, almost falling into the lake. Again.

“Oh! I didn’t intend to frighten you,” the voice reassured, just as surprised.

Average turned around. King White faced him in all of his glory. Wait, didn’t he disappear? Hadn’t he gone missing almost a year ago?

The king looked back at him with a puzzled look.

“Are you one of Merlin’s friends? I could have sworn there were only six of you…”

“Wh-Of course not!” Average stood up in anger. How could he be mistaken for one of those seven dwarfs? He was nothing like them! Not one bit!

“Do I look like a dwarf to you?!” 

King White blinked.

“...Yes?”

Average groaned audibly. This was not making his day any better.

“I am Prince Average!” He said. “A terrible witch cursed me to look like…this!” 

He motioned at himself, tired, worried, lost.

“In reality, I am a lot more handsome.” 

The puzzled look returned to the king’s face. He stroked his chin in thought.

“Average, Average…I know that name.”

Average smirked, victorious.

“Of course you do.”

He might not be the most popular, but everyone knew his name. Even King White!

The King’s eyes widened a little as he remembered.

“Wait, aren’t you that terribly rude prince who keeps going around calling people names?”

Average nodded.

“Yes!” He then processed the rest of the sentence and suddenly felt insulted. “What? No!”

“You also tried to kidnap my daughter,” The king looked positively angered now, “And you hurt my son-in-law!” 

Wait, son-in-law? Daughter?

Average hadn’t gotten close to Princess Snow White. Why would he want to? There was no need. So why was the king angry?

Average shook his head to chase the thoughts away.

“I just wanted the most beautiful, angelic party guest! Is that so wrong?!”

King White looked at him sternly, with hands on his hips.

“That’s not very nice of you.” 

This felt like a lecture. Like Average was a kid who broke their sibling’s toy and was asked to own up to his actions.

He was tiring of this.

“Well, frankly I don’t care, your majesty. Now move, I have places to be!”

He shoved past King White with his head and nose held high. He was above this. Well, not above the king in rank, but this lecturing was almost embarrassing!

King White looked after him.

“Do you?” 

His voice framed the words as a question, but it almost sounded mocking. Surprising, coming from someone equal to a marshmallow in kindness.

Average twitched.

“Of course! I have a castle!”

He kept walking away. However, the king’s eyes were following his movement. Usually it would be easy to ignore, but he wasn’t feeling as confident as usual.

King White cleared his throat.

“Will your guards recognize you? Or believe who you say you are?” 

This was on the verge of annoying! Who knew the king himself was so determined to keep him from going home?

“They will!” 

King White lifted his eyebrows.

“...Will they?” 

Average turned around and quickly stomped back to King White.

“No, they won’t,” He mumbled.

King White kept quiet, eyeing Average with an indifferent expression.

Average sighed, much more dramatically than necessary.

“You’re right, your majesty, but what exactly do you want me to do?!” Average yelled. “No one in their right mind would help someone who looked like this!”

“I would,” King White said.

What? Average tried to figure out why he heard him say “I would” instead of laughing at him or not believing him or…

Oh.

Right. 

The king was kind.

“You could come stay at my castle,” King White continued, “But that would mean you would have to be nice to my daughter and her husband.”

What? No way! Average crossed his arms and turned his back on the king.

“Absolutely not.”

King White shrugged and started walking. He headed to the way he was already going.

“If you want to stay here, that’s fine with me. To-de-loo!” 

Average rushed him.

“Wait WAIT WAIT YOUR MAJESTY!” He said as he caught up with the king.

King White stopped in his tracks.

“Fine, I really do need to take you up on your offer,” Average took a breath between words. “Since you have a castle, maybe it won’t be SO bad…”

The king looked forward to the other shore. He then turned and faced Average.

“What’s the magic word?” 

What? Magic words? Average wasn’t a witch! Was this some weird test?

“Uh...Abracadabra?” 

King White narrowed his eyes at him. Average lifted his arms, confused.

“What do you want from me?” 

The king’s eyes were cold.

“It’s “please”. You need to ask nicely."

Oh, for the love of Fairytale Island. Is this really what he would do?

Not like he had a choice.

Average sighed.

“...Your majesty, please let me take shelter in your castle.”

King White smiled.

“Wonderful! I grant you permission to do so.”

Whew. That was a lot easier than he thought.

“Great, can we-“

King White looked at him.

Not again. What was it this time?

“What do you say?” King White asked.

Was his plan to embarrass him completely? Average thought about the answer and mumbled under his breath.

The king leaned down a little.

“What was that?”

A groan from Average was really the only thing needed to describe his mood.

“Thank you, your majesty.” 

King White beamed with joy, showing the prince a toothy grin.

“This way! I’m sure you’ll love it! My daughter and I will teach you all about being nice! I’m sure you’ll find something to talk about!” 

He started walking again, this time making sure that his new companion was following him.

“Manners, helping others, being kind, smiling, doing nice things for people...”

As the king kept listing off different niceness activities, he put his hand behind Average’s back to hurry him along.

Average gave him a fake smile.

“Great…”

This will be a long and terrible stay.

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3: Wood animals of @redshoesmonth2020's (tumblr) Red shoes prompt month.


End file.
